Electric time-switch.



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E. G. HOFFMANN.

ELECTRIC TIME SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 39, 1916.

Q E. G. HOFFMANN.

ELECTRIC TIME SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. :9, me.

Patented Oct. 22, 1918.

Z 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- T UNITED STATES PATENT 'onrion.

EDMUND G. HOFFMANN, 0F BURKSVILLE, ILLINOIS.

ELECTRIC TIME-SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1918.

Application filed February 19, 1916. Serial No. 79,421.

To all whom it ma concern:

Be it known t at I, EDMUND G. Horr- MANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Burksville, in the county of Monroe and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements. in Electric Time-Switches; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it ap'per adapted to operate continuousl and equipped with means for controlhn the current to an electric sign or other ev1ce for illuminating the same during the night time or a portion thereof and for extinguishing the sign during the day time, said means being capable of closing and breaking the electric circuit at varying intervals to correspond with the varying lengths of the night during different seasons of the year.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the laims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings Figure l is a front elevation of an electric time switch constructed in accordance with this invention,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same,

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the electric time signal,

Fig. 4 isa plan view or diagram of the periphery of the cylinder illustrating the arrangement of the insulating and conducting areas of the spirally grooved periphery.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail sectional view illustrating the manner of mounting the contactmember which carries the needle.

F g. 6 is an enlarged plan view partly in section illustrating the manner of mounting the contact member which travels in the splrally arranged grooves of the cylinder.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a portion of the switch.

Like numerals of reference designate corresp ondlng parts in the several figures of the drawings.

In the accompanying drawings in which is illustrated the preferred embodiment of the invention, 1 designates a rotary cylinder constituting a contact member and consisting of a cylindrical body portion and heads 2 and 3 and mounted on a horizontally disposed rotary spindle 4 which is journaled in suitable bearings of standards 5 and 6. The standards 5 and 6 rise base 7 and the spindle from a supporting is connected with a suitable clock motor 8 which in practice is designed to be onstructed to run for a relativel long time with a single winding. Any suita le clock motor may of course be employed and as the particular construction of the clock motor does not constitute any portion 'of the present invention, detail illustration thereof is deemed unnecessary. The spindle and the cylinder are designed to be rotated once every 24 hours and the head orend 2 of the cylinder is provided with a dial or clock face 9 of a twenty-four hour clock, and the said dial may have the hour designations arranged in two separate sets or series of one to twelve as shown, but they may be arranged in any other desired manner.

The rotary cylinder is provided in its periperal portion with spirally arranged grooves 10, which in practice will be 365 in number to correspond with the number of days of the year so that the electric time signal will require adjustment only at the end of the year. The outer face of the cylindrical body portion of the cylinder is provided with conducting and insulated areas 11 and 12 and the spirally arranged grooves which constitute a track receive a needle or point 13 of a contact member 14. The contact member 14 which is mounted on a nut 15 is caused to traverse the cylinder by a spirally grooved shaft 16 and the said contact member which is located at a point above'the cylinder is equipped with an adjustable llO ' transversely movable contact member 14.v

weight 17 having a set screw 18 and adapted to be moved longitudinally of the contact member 14 to maintain the needle or point of the contact member in roper electrical engagement with the spirally grooved surface of the cylinder. By this construction, a proper electrical contact is produced between the rotary contact member and the The shaft 16 which is horizontally disposed is journaled in suitable bearings of the said standards 5 and 6 and it is provided w th grooves of spiral form-corresponding with said shaft or screw 16 makes one revolution each time, the rotary cylinder makes one revolution and it is connected with the cylinder by a train of gears for this purpose. The train of gears preferably consists of upper, lower and intermediate wheels 19, 20

and 21 of proper diameters to secure this;

result.

Each of the spirally arranged grooves traverses the conducting and insulating areas to close a circuit during a ortion of each day and also to break the circuit and maintain the same in an open condition during a portion of each day.

In Fig. 4 of the drawings is shown a diagram of the conductin and insulating areas which extend over t e spirally arranged grooves of the twelve months of the ear, certain of the rooves being omitte for convenience of illustration. In the diagrammatic view of Fig. 4 the irregular line 22 indicates the sunrise line and marks the boundaries of the conducting and insulating areas at one side of the insulating area 12 and the irregular line 23 at the other side of the insulating area indicates the sunset line. While the conducting and insulating areas are shown in the accompanying drawings for closing the electrical circuit at sun down and maintaining the electrical circuit closed during the night time and opening the circuit at sunrise, the insulating and conducting areas maybe arranged in various other ways as will bevreadily apparent and the construction ma be utilized for opening and closing the e ectrical circuit at intervals of varying durations. The standard 5 supports an hour hand 24 which is located in line with the point or needle 13 so that the needle will indicate the correct time with the hand in order to indicate whether the switch is running roperly and on time. The rotary cylin er is provided at its front face at the front dial 9 with a rotary ring 25 which is connected by an arm or portion 26 with the conducting portion 11 and the said conducting ring is engaged by a brush 27 preferto the conducting portion 11 of the cylinder 1 and through the contact member 14' and the shaft which is insulated from the gearing and also from the standards 5 and 6 in any 30 that is connected with t e other wire 31 of the electric circuit. The wires- 31 and 28 are designedto be connected to a suitable source of current suppl and the electrical device to be operated an it will be clear that when the needle of .the contact member 14 the spiral grooves of the cylinder and the is travelm in the grooves and the conducting area 0 the cylinder, the circuit will be closed and the electrical device will be operated and that as soon as the needle through the rotary movement of the cylinder is carried into the insulating area, the circuit will and as the upper and lower gears 19 and 20 are of the same diameter the cylinder and the v screw will be caused to make onecomplete revolution in the same period of time and the nut which carries the contact member 14 will be moved longitudinally of the screw or shaft 16 to cause the contact member 14' to traverse the cylinder from one end of the series, of spirally arranged grooves to the other, and it will be apparent that if the cylinder makes one revolution in twentyfour hours, it will require one year to move the contact member from one end of a series of spirally arranged grooves to the other when such series contains a ve for each day in the year. Also it wi 1 be clear that by varying the insulating and conductin areas, the circuit may be maintained closed durin the desired portion of the day and opene and closed at the exact time each day and that the electric time switch is entirely 'automatic,'it being only necessary to rewind the actuatin motor at intervals. Also instead of emp oying an ordinar front motor electrically operated means or rewinding the motor may be used so that the device .will be entirely automatic and will not require attention until the end of the ear. Any suitable means may be provided or'enabling the.nut to be quickl transferred from one end of the screw to t e other as for instance the nut may be made in sections detachably dicated in Fig. 5 of the drawings. What is claimed is 1. An electric switch of the class described including a rotary cylinder provided with spirally arranged grooves and having insulate and conducting areas at the said grooves, a shaft arranged in parallelism with the cylinder and having threads corresponding with the grooves of the cylinder, means for rotating the-shaft and t e cylinder in unison, a nut engaged by a threaded shaft and a contact member carried by the nut and havin an engaging portion arranged to run in t e grooves of the cylinder and an adjustable weight mounted on the contact member of the nut and movable from the said nut.

2. An electric switch of the class described including a rotary cylinder rovided with spirally arranged grooves an havin insulated and conducting areas at the sai grooves, a shaft arranged in parallelism with the cylinder and-having threads c0rresponding with the grooves of the cylinder,

means for rotating the shaft and cyllnder in unison, means mounted on the threaded shaft for movement on the same, an arm carried by said meansand overlyin the cylinder, a contact member carried y the arm and having an engaging ortion arranged to fit. in the grooves of t e cylinder, and a weight mounted on the arm as and for the purpose specified.

3. An electric switch, of the class described including a rotary cylinder provlded with spirallyrarranged grooves and having insulated and conducting areas at the said grooves, a shaft arranged in' parallelism with the cylinder and having threads corresponding with the rooves of the cylinder, means for rotatingtfie shaft and the cylinder in unison, a nut engaged by a threaded shaft and a contact member carried by the nut and having an engaging portion arranged to run in the grooves of the cylinder, a contact ring mounted on the cylinder at one end thereof and electrically connected with the conducting area of the cylinder, a second rotary Contact ring mounted on the shaft, brushes engaging the contact ring and conductors connected with the brushes.

'In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presende of two witnesses.

EDMUND G. HOFFMANN.

Witnesses FRED OLDENDoRrH, LoUIs Bone. 

